Angela Bortone is a Dominican-Italian painter and muralist based in the metro Atlanta region. She is also a member of the artist collective Living Melody Collective. Born in the Dominican Republic, she spent nearly a decade abroad in Germany before moving to Atlanta in 2002. Her energetic works of abstract figurative realism are inspired by feelings, emotions and thoughts. Figures coexist with inky splashes that represent swirling subconscious minds.
“For my entire life, the answer to the question ‘where are you from?’ has been an answer told as a story, not confined to a city, country or continent. Growing up, I used to feel untranslatable, mute, half this and half that, like none of my identities. As an adult, I now understand this feeling of “unbelonging” is a common feature of the diasporan experience, so the mural features two versions of Jessica Caldas, a Puerto Rican American artist and friend. Pulling from map iconography, her clothes feature a compass rose, and the shadow self has a monarch mask on the shadow self’s thigh to represent the desire to hide parts of one’s self to fit into a dominant culture, and pearls honor the pain of integration and acceptance. Resonance is about accepting all the facets of one’s cultural identity, and using that to navigate connections to others through self-expression.”
“Resonance is about accepting all the facets of one’s cultural identity.”
